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HARRISON TO EUSTIS

Vincennes 7th. Jany 1812

Sir

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your faver of the 11 Ultimo. It gives me great pleasure to find that the firm & gallant Conduct of the Troops which fought under my command in the late action with the Indians is so justly appreciated by the Government they are certainly deserving of every praise which has been bestowed upon them. As I am fully convinced Sir that you take an interest in the fame of all the persons who served upon that occasion I must beg leave to call your attention to the enclosed declaration of a considerable majority of the Officers of the 4th U. States Regt. & to the individual declar- ation Certificates of several of them - By these it will be seen how far the late action deserves the epithets of Complete Surprise & horrible butchery -- it will be seen also that notwithstanding the Suddenness of the Attack & that a few men were killed or wounded in the Companies which were first attacked before they were completely found that this was nevertheless in such a state of preparedness as to be a [illeg.] gound[?] until relief was brought to them and that it is a matter of great uncertainty whether the Indians derived the best advantage from their perfidy. With respect to the ground upon which the Troops were encamped, altho it was favorable to the approach of the Indians from the quarter upon which the attack was commenced it united every other advantage excepting that of a Sufficient space [?] of secure ground for Cavalry to act upon -- This was only to be found upon the two flanks, In front not a single impediment nor a [illeg.] of a tree presented itself for a very considerable distance - Covered indeed with long grass & two unfit for Cavalry to charge upon but sufficiently firm for any evolutions of Infantry. This was evinced by the conduct of the Indians who withdrew themselves entirely to the flanks as soon as the light began to shew itself. I have the Honor also to enclose herewith a paper containg some resolutions adopted by the Company of Kentuckey Volunteers who served under Capt. Genisse - this Company & Capt Bactors were the two which received the first fire of the Indians My reason for troubling you with them is to shew what opinions they entertain of the [illeg.] whose [illeg.] exempted negli- gence, their cowardly were butchered.

Captn. Snelling the Commdt. of Fort Harrison arrived here some days ago & two days after him some Indian Chiefs bearing a skull from the Kickapoos & Winebegos the same in substance with that which I had the honor to transmit by the last mail -- The Captain says that he was informed Confidentially by a Wea Indian that the disposition of the Kickapoos & Winebagos was not by any means such as they wished us to suppose it to be that many of them still believed in the Prophet who had assured them that his want of Success in the late action was caused by an accident of an uncommon Kind, that many of them beleived that they would all die as soon as the Prophet was put to death He further said that he had heard some of them say that if their offer to make peace was not speedily accepted & themselves releived from the miser- able situation in which they were placed that they were determined to make the white people suffer also by attacking the frontiers It is but Just however to observe that the Kickapoo Orator warned the Captn. not to give certain confidence to every thing that the Miamis asserted. they the Kickapoos believed to be secretly their enemies, that the repentence of the greater part of them is not sincere, that they regret the want of success rather than the Commission of the crime I have the Honor to be most Respectfully Sir your Huml Servt [unsigned]

I must confess that I have beleaved until corrected by a late conversation with Captn Barton Lt. Goding that there Company suffred much more severely before they were [illeg.] that I now find they did - & that the observation in my official account of the action that several of the men had to contend with the enemy in [illeg., three words] in that a solitary instance of the [illeg.,two words] occured & that is Genisees Company

The Honble
William Eustis Esqr
Secy of War

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